h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Clive!

we just saw your pumpkins (via The Post editorial) and ... wow, they're brilliant.

And: what do you use for the actual carving? We have some little pumpkin saws but we broke one this year and need to get something to replace it.

Hi Sho and any gruesomes that happen to be lurking. (cdouble)

First of all let me say thank you, I'm pleased so many people like them

As for tools, the pumpkin carving kits you get in supermarkets etc are okay but I did invest in some proper equipment to make things easier and more interesting.

The site I use for the majority of my tool buying and downloading designs is Zombie Pumpkins
http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/index.php
http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/patterns.php
It's a US site, so living in the UK I have to import all the things he sells, however, even until recently the interest rate always worked in my favour.
If you need a quick guide to Dollar vs local currency I use this site and ZP welcomes Paypal
http://www.xe.com/

ZP sell this carving set with large and small saws and a sturdy wooden handle.
http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/shop-protool.php
I do the majority of my carving using the small saw. Very easy to use and as you've seen you can get excellent results.

This is actually a really cool gadget, because it uses power-tools! It was invented by someone who uses ZP as a way of making the hollowing out of the pumpkins quicker and simpler, so the majority of your time can be spent carving.
http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/shop-gutter.php
It's a pumpkin-gutting drill attachment (you'll need a drill cordless or mains powered doesn't matter) It fits into the drill-bit, secured with an alan-key The whisk structure has sharp edges and can slice through the stringy interior of the pumpkin in seconds.

It's also fantastic for removing the excess slime and thinning down the walls, which makes carving the designs a lot easier. Ideally the carved face should be about 1/2 inch thick - getting them to that depth with this is EASY, and you can check how you're doing by pushing a pin through the carving face.

It's sounds odd but it makes sense: how well you pumpkin is lit will depend on how reflectve the interior is. The pumpkin gutter makes cleaning out the pumpkin interior a half-hour job even for very large pumpkins. (I advise having a sharp knife - to carve the lid -and a scoop or a spoon - preferably metal - to scrape the remnants out.

I also use a modelling knife (VERY sharp)*
http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Images/DB_Detail/_27081__90531__.jpg
This is good for clearing away blockages, finessing the details (saws tear through the pumpkin so can leave them looking a bit ragged) with a bit of practice the modelling knife cna be used to peel away a very thin layer from around each carved surface, making it flat, letting more light out and generally neatening them up.

As happened this year, after I started carving, I realised I'd not thinned the carving surface enough so the designs would be very deep and not very well illuminated, I used the modelling knife then to slice away more pumpkin from inside to reveal the designs I was cutting into the front.

In addition I purchased some needles from a Habberdashery, and from a model shop a sort of adjustable handle with a screw tight end. I used the needles in this and it made a perforator. Because I traced the designs onto the pumpkins using carbon paper, I would then perforate each design with the needle making them easier to cut out. On particularly fiddly designs like E.T, and Pinhead this was really helpful.

Also general advice:

1.Start from the middle and work outwards.
This is to maintain the support as you remove ever lagrer areas of pumpkin to keep it stable.

2.Remove small areas first, then larger ones later. This is about scaffolding the design so that there is more pumpkin to support the intricate bits of the design before the large areas are removed. Trying to do this the other way around is very hard as there is no support when your trying to carve the eyes or the teeth etc.


And that is what I use to carve my pumpkins. Hope that helps.

Clive


*if the gruesome refers to children, I was told as training for a teacher that safety around knives begins with being allowed to use them. Although the saws, the gutter and especially the model knife, are all sharp, there is every reason that, ensuring adult supervision, children can and should be included; indeed that's sort of the point.

Hi Clive - wow, thanks for your reply, we're definitely going to check out some of those things (especially the drill-attachment, I'm very partial to using power-tools,as it happens) for next year.

And yes - the Gruesome Twosome are my daughters. They carved our pumpkins with the little saws this year (aged 10 and 11) and with a for a dad they've also been introduced to knife safety at an early age.

Gruesome #2 is right her and said "tell him I think he's really kind"

So there it is, you have the Gruesome Seal of Approval. (something I don't have...)

Awww.

Gruesome 2 - Thank you very much, I hope you enjoy carving pumpkins next year and I very much look forward to seeing them.

Sho - I should add, ZP membership there are different sorts, depending on what access to the designs you want. Full access is I think $10 so it's not exorbitant but the cheapest restricts the number of designs you can download.

Also membership lasts for 1 year. or put another way expires December 31st. So it's best to sign up in January, but obviously business picks up from around July/August onwards and if you subscribe in October you get the same access but only for 3 months instead of 12, so just in terms of investment sign up early.

If you do subscribe and want to find me on there I post as Lithium_joe.

Also not sure if you saw these photos, but I do recommend printing the ZP designs, gluing them onto carbon paper, securing with cellotape onto the pumpkin and tracing through the designs.

These can then be gone over in marker pen which produces good strong lines which cna be easily followed with the saws and knives.

http://images41.fotki.com/v1348/photos/4/489822/6793174/pumpkins08precarve-vi.jpg
http://images43.fotki.com/v1369/photos/4/489822/6793174/HowlReaperV-vi.jpg
http://images42.fotki.com/v1311/photos/4/489822/6793174/DavidPinheadET-vi.jpg
http://images44.fotki.com/v1356/photos/4/489822/6793174/atchmasterDravenJokerVoldemort-vi.jpg

I managed to get some large and wide pumpkins this year despite the crop and harvest being terrible, and paying attention to the design dimensions is wise. they print out on A4 standard paper. I keep these as master copies and scan them in and resize them in needs be.

Also especially for the gruesomes, ZP do a special 'kids' selection of patterns and the standard 'lantern-face'
http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/patterns-kids.php
http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/patterns-jacks.php

I really like the children's designs - we watched Beetlejuice this year (I think we'll turn it into a tradition) so maybe we'll also get the Beetlejuice pattern and make one of those.

And thanks for the tip about joining next year. I'll remember that.

Print it.

Scan it.

Save it

Re-print as often as you need annually.

Put original in binder.

... because whether you go for the pin-prick method (look under ZP FAQs), PVA glue or trace with carbon paper*, the print-out inevitably gets destroyed. So it's always best to work with copies and keep the original (which you've essentially paid for) safe.


*my preference but all methods are discussed at length on the forums, as are how to preserve your pumpkins and how to photograph them effectively etc.

I have a few templates I got with our pumpkin carving kit a few years ago and copied them right away - we're quite keen on the pin-prick method - but I might consider carbon. I use that all the time for my woodworking.

The problem I found with pin pricking was the fluid inside the pumpkins saturates the paper and makes them hard to keep both intact and adhered. It works but just sort of unsatisfactory, I thought.

Secondly, pricking the designs has to be done at the time, because essentially your damaging the outer-skin which means the pumpkins are more likely to rot.

What I liked about the carbon method was, when I took that photos of the pumpkins in their boxes it was still a week before Halloween.

So I spent three days carving and only carving (including Halloween itself) which meant I could get more done because I didn't have to hollow, transfer and carve, which is not only time-consuming but hard work!!

Our problem this year was that we only finally managed to find pumpkins on Tuesday and I didn't have an evening where I could do the carving until Thursday.